By Ayo Yusuf
The Adamawa State Governorship Election Tribunal on Saturday affirmed the re-election of Governor Umaru Fintiri as the duly re-elected Governor of the state in the March 2023 governorship election.
Recall that the Adamawa governorship election had been keenly fought necessitating a supplementary poll during which the then Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Hudu Yunusa-Ari had courted controversy by abruptly declaring the All Progressives Congress candidate, Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru as the winner while collation was ongoing.
The matter was later rectified when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) intervened to nullify Yunusa-Ari’s result and declare incumbent Governor Fintiri who sought reelection as the winner.
According to INEC, at the end of the drama-filled exercise which ended in April, Governor Fintiri, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 430,861 votes, defeating Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who got 398,738 votes.
Mrs Binani and some other contestants had approached the Tribunal seeking the nullification of the victory of Governor Fintiri but the court on Saturday upheld the victory of the incumbent governor who is running a second term.
TheNewDiplomat reports that Hudu Yunusa-Ari’s singular act had prompted INEC to suspend him while then President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a full investigation on the electoral commissioner and the security personnel that were around him when he made the declaration.
Yunusa-Ari was later arrested and handed over to the police for prosecution and yesterday
the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, gave the nod for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to prosecute him.
Yunusa-Ari is facing a six-count charge over the alleged unlawful role he played in the Adamawa State governorship election that held on March 18.
Meanwhile, following INEC’s decision to prosecute the Adamawa REC, Senator Binani, through her team of lawyers led by former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoaka, SAN, approached the court to challenge the legality of the planned trial.
Cited as 1st to 3rd Respondents in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/935/2023, which the APC candidate in the poll filed before the court, were; INEC, the Inspector-General of Police, as well as the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF.
Mr Aondoaka, SAN, while moving a motion exparte that was filed alongside the suit, contended that until the petition his client lodged at the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the Adamawa governorship election is decided in line with section 149 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the prosecution of Mr Yunusa-Ari could not be legally valid.
Mrs Binani’s lawyer further maintained that INEC’s decision to file an action against any person involved in the initial declaration of his client as winner of the governorship contest, when the tribunal was yet to determine the petition before it, was unconstitutional.
He noted that section 285(6) of the Electoral law prescribed 180 days for determination of electoral disputes, a period that had yet to elapse in the petition the APC candidate lodged before the tribunal on May 6.
Besides, the former AGF told the court that though his client earlier filed a suit to seek a judicial review of INEC’s action in the Adamawa governorship poll, she was directed by Justice Inyang Ekwo who handled the matter, to approach a tribunal with her suit since it was not a pre-election matter.
He told the court that an undertaking had been signed to establish that the suit was not frivolous, adding that his client would be ready to face any cost should the court find the case to be frivolous.
Justice Donatus Okorowo had on the strength of the exparte motion, ordered all the parties in the suit to maintain the status quo ante bellum, pending the determination of the matter.
Aside from ordering accelerated hearing of the case, the court, ordered the Respondents to show cause why all the reliefs that were sought by Senator Binani, should not be granted.
INEC had through its lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, prayed the court to dismiss the suit for being an academic exercise.
He argued that the purport of the suit was to move the court to impede the judicial function of another court of coordinate jurisdiction.
Delivering his judgement on Friday, Justice Okorowo upheld the submission of INEC’s lawyer.
He held that nothing in the law permitted the court to stop a proceeding that is pending before another high court.
Consequently, he struck out the suit.
